"Slice" by Gabriella Kamran

The palm and the fist and the knife in the

Fist of the hand. You’re the side that enters

The throat, the bed of the mouth. Take

As long as you need. There’s sleep in the

Back on the edge of the knife. It’s cold

On the counter. The numbers are flat

Like a palm. Life, round. That’s the sound

Of it rolling, plane reconning. Sky is more

Bowl than plate. In the kitchen the stars

Watch the sweep of our bodies. They wink

Like a knife. What I saw first was a flash

In the fist, then warmth of a hard flat hand.

Gabriella Kamran is an Persian Jewish poet, writer, and lawyer in Los Angeles. Her poetry has been published in the Zaman Collective and Born in Babylon, a forthcoming anthology of poetry from the Babylonian diaspora.